Republic of the Philippines

AURORA STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

Baler, Aurora

As a nation we have the right to decide our own affairs, to mould our own future. This
does not pose any danger to anybody. Our nation is fully aware of the responsibility for
its own fate in the complicated situation of the contemporary world.

Lech Walesa
 Republic of the Philippines
AURORA STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY
Baler, Aurora
MODULE 11 GLOBAL POPULATION AND MOBILITY
“To save the world and protect tomorrow, we have to control the population today.”
Anonymous

Specific Lesson Objectives:

At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
1. Identify the attributes of a global city.
2. Analyze how cities serve as engines of globalization.
3. Explain the theory of demographic transition as it affects global population.
4. Analyze the political, economic, cultural and social factors underlying the global
movements of people.
5. Display first-hand knowledge of the experiences of OFWs.

DISCUSSION:
WHY STUDY GLOBAL CITIES?
1. Globalization is spatial.
a. It is spatial because it occurs in physical spaces. You can see it when foreign investments
and capital move through a city and companies build skyscrapers. People working in these
businesses – or Filipinos working abroad – start to purchase or rent high-rise condominium
units and better homes. As all these events happen, more poor people are driven out of city
centers to make new developments.

b. It is spatial because what makes it move is that it is based in places. Los Angeles, the home
of Hollywood, is where movies are made of global consumption. The main headquarters of
Sony is in Tokyo, and from there, the company coordinates the sale of its various electronics
goods to branches across the world. In other words, cities act on globalization, and
globalization acts on cities. They are the sites and the mediums of globalization just as the
internet enables and shapes global forces, so doo cities.

THE GLOBAL CITY

❖ Sociologist Saskia Sassen popularized the term “global city” in the 1990s. Her criteria for
what constitutes the global city were primarily economic. In her work, she initially identified
three global cities: New York, London & Tokyo, all of which are hubs of global finance and
capitalism. They are the homes to the world’s top exchanges where investors buy and sell
shares in major corporations.

• New York has New York Stock Exchange

• London has Financial Times Stock Exchange
• Tokyo has Nikkei.

❖ The amount of money traded in these markets is staggering. The value of shares traded in
the NYSE, for example, is $19 300 billion, while that of the shares in the Philippine Stock
Exchange is only $213.3 billion
 Republic of the Philippines
AURORA STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY
Baler, Aurora
❖ Though it is not as wealthy as New York, movie-making mecca Los Angeles can now
rival the Big Apple’s cultural influence. San Francisco must now factor in as another global
city because it is the home of the most powerful internet companies – Facebook, Twitter, and
Google.

❖ Moreover, the growth of the Chinese economy has turned cities like Shanghai, Beijing,
and Guangzhou into centers of trade and finance. The Chinese government reopened the
Shanghai Stock Exchange in late 1990, and since then, it has grown to become the fifth-
largest stock market in the world.

❖ Also called the world city or sometimes alpha city or world center. It is a city that is the
primary node in the global economic network.

❖ Others consider some cities “global” simply because they are great places to live in. In
Australia, Sydney commands the greatest proportion of capital. However, Melbourne is
described as Sydney’s rival “global city” because many magazines and lists have now
referred to it as the world’s most livable city – a place with good public transportation, a
thriving cultural scene, and a relatively easy pace of life.

THREE KEY TENDENCIES SEEM TO FOLLOW FROM THESE STRUCTURAL

FACTS ABOUT GLOBAL CITIES
1. The concentration of wealth in the hands of owners, partners, and professionals associated
with the high-end firms in this system.
2. Growing disconnection between the city and its region.
3. The growth of a large marginalized population has a tough time earning a living in the
marketplace defined by these high-end activities.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GLOBAL CITY

• Many international financial services, notably in finance, insurance, real estate, banking,
accountancy, and marketing.
• Headquarters of several multinational corporations.
• Financial headquarters, a stock exchange, and major financial institutions.
• Domination of the trade and economy of a large surrounding area.
• Major manufacturing centers with port and container facilities.
• Considerable decision-making power daily and at a global level.
• Centers of new ideas and innovation in business, economics, culture, and politics.
• Centers of media and communications for global networks.
• The dominance of the national region with great international significance.
• A high percentage of residents employed in the services sector and information sector.
• High-quality educational institutions, including renowned universities, international student
attendance, and research facilities.
• Multi-functional infrastructure offering some of the best legal, medical, and entertainment
facilities in the country.
• High diversity in language, culture, religion, and ideologies.

REASONS FOR INCREASE IN GLOBAL CITIES

❖ The increase in global cities is linked to the globalization of economies and the
centralization of mass production within urban centers.
 Republic of the Philippines
AURORA STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY
Baler, Aurora

CRITICISMS OF GLOBAL CITIES

❖ Despite playing a significant role in the economy, the global city thesis has been a threat to
state-centric perspectives. These cities have been accused of focusing on other cities and
neglecting cities within the national outreach. These cities are more connected to the outside
world than their domestic economy.
❖ In the outskirts of New York and San Francisco are poor urban enclaves occupied by
African-Americans and immigrant families who are often denied opportunities at a better life.
Slowly, they are being forced to move farther away from the economic centers of their cities.
As a city attracts more capital and richer residents, real estate prices go up, and poor residents
are forced to relocate to far away but cheaper areas. This phenomenon is driving out the poor
in favor of the newer, wealthier residents is called gentrification.
❖ Poor aboriginal Australians have been most acutely affected by this process in Australian
cities. Once living in public urban housing, they were forced to move farther away from the
city centers that offer more jobs, more government services, and better transportation due to
gentrification. Poor Muslim migrants are forced out of Paris in France and have clustered
ethnic enclaves known as banlieue.
❖ In most of the world’s global cities, the middle class is also thinning out. Globalization
creates high-income jobs that are concentrated in global cities. These high earners, in turn,
generate demand for an unskilled labor force (hotel cleaners, nannies, maids, waitresses, etc.)
that will attend to their increasing needs.
❖ Many middle-income jobs in manufacturing and business process outsourcing (call
centers, e.g.) are moving to other countries. This hollowing out of the middle class in global
cities has heightened their inequality. In places like New York, high-rolling American
investment bankers raise children by Filipina maids. A large global city may thus be a
paradise for some but purgatory for others.

ASSESSMENT TASK:
Choose five cities categorized as global cities all over the world. For these global cities,
research the presence of the characteristics mentioned (i.e. New York – Presence of
international financial institutions such as New York Stock exchange). Write those which
are not yet named above. Provide the information below:
Global Cities Characteristics